Dr James Polk


Dr James Polk on piano with Ray Charles



Dr. James Polk was born into a musical family and grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. He excelled in all music classes in elementary, junior and senior high school. James moved to Austin, Texas to attend Huston-Tillotson College where he graduated in 1962 with a B.A. Degree in music education. He taught band in Elgin, Texas and later moved to Massachusetts to work at the Rodman Job Corp as entertainment director. He returned to Austin to work for IBM as a Buyer in Production Purchasing where he stayed for ten years. He left IBM to join the Ray Charles Orchestra in 1978 as organist, pianist and later writer, arranger and conductor. James moved back to Austin in 1988 after living in Los Angeles for ten years. He went back to college and received his Master of Music Degree at Southwest Texas State University ’91. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Huston-Tillotson College ‘95. He retired from teaching in 2006 and he received his Professor Emeritus status of Jazz Studies in the School of Music at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
Dr. James Polk arranged two songs for Ray Charles that were nominated for Grammy Awards (Ain't It So - 1979, and I Wish You Were Here Tonight - 1983). He also arranged the Ray Charles Christmas CD

Discography:
Just Plain Funk (Single) 1969
Power Struggle (Single) 1969
Ain't It So (LP) 1979
I Wish You Were Here Tonight (LP) 1983
You Know The Feeling (LP) 1984
Jamad (LP) 1992
May I Come In (LP) 1998
When Evening Comes (LP) 2001
Go With The Flow (LP) 2007

Dr. James Polk is in the studio working on another wonderful cd project hopefully completed by the end of December 2008

I was the bidding winner on October 27. I bought this album for 100$. In my opinion is one of the best jazz/funk albums. The sound quality is amazing. All the tracks were written by James Polk. I chose three tracks from this Lp.



James Polk & Co - Rini (sample)



James Polk & Co - Subtle feeling (sample)



James Polk & Co - You are the best (sample)



Note: The above posted singles are not played in full

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